Judd Gregg to Politicians: Go Home Until After Election

Politicians should get out of Washington and leave governing to the bureaucrats for the next six months, former New Hampshire Gov. Judd Gregg claims.

Elected officials will get nothing done as the election campaign ramps up, so the honest thing for them to do is leave it to the professionals, he said in an article for The Hill.

“If Washington was vacated, it would be a more honest expression of the reality of the status of governance for the next six months. It might help the American people believe that there is some integrity to the situation.”

Gregg, who represented the Granite State in the Senate for 18 years after his single term as governor, said civil servants run the government anyway.

“Congress only engages at the margin in the day-to-day activities of the government and since no legislation is going to be done, no budget resolution passed or individual appropriations bills completed, even the role of Congress and the White House is dramatically reduced.

“If all the elected folks simply left town, it would create a clearer picture of how things are going to be managed until November.”

An added advantage is that the American people would find such a move “refreshingly honest,” as both President Barack Obama and members of Congress could say they are running against a Washington that they are not part of.

Obama, he said, “could even blame the White House since he would not be there. He could claim no residency and thus no responsibility. He could run against Washington, the Congress and the White House. It would be the ultimate political strategy, deftly executed from Chicago.”

And he added, “Finally, the people charged with governing will openly admit they do not plan to govern. The people would be joined in their general disgust for the lack of leadership and problem solving in Washington by the president and Congress.”